What should i look out for

[03F150ESCB-Bob]

In my search for a new used truck to be a work horse i came upon a 2003 F 150 extended cab short box 4X4. I believe its a 5.7 Triton V8 motor with 98K on it for $6500 with a one year 18K mileage warranty on it for the motor trans transfer case rears and other assorted stuff in suspension..
first off did i get a good deal?
Second are there things i should be looking for?
Third the manual transfer case seems to be real tight trying to shift it out of 2H into 4H and 4L is this normal and are there any tricks to the truck
this is my first full size ford 4X4 all the others ive had were 2 wheel drive
any tips or suggestions?

 

[Raptor22]

In my search for a new used truck to be a work horse i came upon a 2003 F 150 extended cab short box 4X4. I believe its a 5.7 Triton V8 motor with 98K on it for $6500 with a one year 18K mileage warranty on it for the motor trans transfer case rears and other assorted stuff in suspension..
first off did i get a good deal?
Second are there things i should be looking for?
Third the manual transfer case seems to be real tight trying to shift it out of 2H into 4H and 4L is this normal and are there any tricks to the truck
this is my first full size ford 4X4 all the others ive had were 2 wheel drive
any tips or suggestions?

Avoid Gen10, lol. :

 

[polarbear]

I'm not a fan of the earlier 5.4's, especially one with miles on it like that. Had a bunch of issues.

Question- did you already buy it? Not to sound like this, but the time to ask those questions is before you take the new ride home.

 

[03F150ESCB-Bob]

i have a deposit on the thing

 

[surewhynot]

In my experience with 5.4's ( we have 8 of them, all 2000-2004 in our fleet ) as long as they haven't been abused too bad they can go about 250k miles. I can't give you any input on the transfer case though, because ours are 2wd.

 

[slmann]

don't have much advice to offer but I had one for awhile and really liked it. Mine was the 4.2 v6. No problems with 4x4 or anything really.

 

[Lost]

I see them with 150000 often . I also see allot of them having motor issues at 120000. Just change the oil often . If it looks clean (even detailed U can tell a !!!used/abused!!! truck You'll probably be OK .

Good luck ..

 

[Raptor22]

I see them with 150000 often . I also see allot of them having motor issues at 120000. Just change the oil often . If it looks clean (even detailed U can tell a !!!used/abused!!! truck You'll probably be OK .

Good luck ..

Just dont get killed like the dummy in crash test above...

 

[CowboyBilly9Mile]

Just dont get killed like the dummy in crash test above...

Dummies don't die, they just get promoted to higher levels of incompetence

 

[O'Rattlecan]

The back wheels look salvagable.

Ryan

 

[F150]

I had a 2000 that the rear started to hum at around 72k miles. And make them put new spark plugs in it before delivery.

 

[03F150ESCB-Bob]

the thing appears to have been a one owner and the guy was a carpenter or something.. truck isnt too bad looking outside the interior is kinda ratty but for what i want it for its fine i think.. i went for the extended warranty so i have a year to abuse it lol and see if it works

 

[95F350XL]

The early 5.4's had the plug popping out issue. We get alot of em in with alotta miles, other then egr passages clogging up, there not too bad. The 4x4 on my 95(manual shift) its annoying going from 4h to 4l. I usually have to put the truck from P to N a few times, then leave it in N, and then shift from 4H to 4L, and if it dosnt go in, i let of the brake and when it rolls it goes in for me. But if its just stiff in general, id spray it up with wd40 or pb blaster and work it.